Compelling Love

A strong and recurring Biblical theme is for our hope to be always in God.
Psalm 146 describes how our hope is in the Lord our God, our great help and Creator:

¹ Hallelujah!  My soul, praise the Lord.
² I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing to my God as long as I live.

⁵ Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶ the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them.

In Psalm 62, David points people to God, his salvation and stronghold, and source of hope:

⁵ Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him.
⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I will not be shaken.
⁷ My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock.
My refuge is in God.
⁸ Trust in Him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts before Him.
God is our refuge. Selah

In Hosea 12, the prophet reminds us to return to our God, with love and justice, putting our hope in Him:

⁵ Yahweh is the God of Hosts;
Yahweh is His name.
⁶ But you must return to your God.
Maintain love and justice,
and always put your hope in God.

In 1 Peter 1, the apostle describes our living hope through the resurrection of Yeshua, Jesus from the dead:

³ Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

⁸ You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

He describes our hope and calling through the revelation of Yeshua our Messiah, Jesus Christ.

¹³ Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. ¹⁵ But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; ¹⁶ for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

²⁰ He was chosen before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the times for you ²¹ who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

The prayer of Yeshua, Jesus, in John 17 gives us great hope for seeing his glory and sharing his love both now and for eternity:

²⁴ Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am.
Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me
because You loved Me before the world’s foundation.
²⁵ Righteous Father! The world has not known You. However, I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me.
²⁶ I made Your name known to them and will make it known, so the love You have loved Me with may be in them and I may be in them.

In Romans 5, Paul gives additional strong reasons for rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, including that the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit:

¹ Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, ⁴ endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. ⁵ This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

In Romans 15, Paul prays that believers will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit:

¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Ephesians 2, Paul describes how those who were foreigners to the covenants of the promise were without hope until the Messiah came.  Now by faith people from all nations can become fellow citizens with Israel in the family of God:

¹² At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. ¹⁴ For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.

In Colossians 1, Paul speaks about a mystery hidden for generations but now revealed to believers: “Christ in you, the hope of glory”.  He explains that he has been called ²⁵ “… to make God’s message fully known, ²⁶ the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. ²⁷ God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

In Titus 2, Paul exhorts believers to live in a sensible, righteous and godly way, while we await the Messiah’s glorious return:

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, ¹² instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/

(Bible Quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.)